New Beginnings and an Old Guitar [Open]

[xenokofhang]

Tiberius steps off of the bus, a dufflebag in one hand, a suitcase in the other, and his old guitar strapped to his back. He moves out of the way, finding a nice little corner to sit in, away from the other people going about their business. "Hmmm, busier than I thought it would be. Didn't know buses were still so popular..." He places his bags down and takes the guitar off of his back. "Well... since the bus arrived early, I suppose I'll just wait here for whoever they're sending?" He was not sure exactly what he was supposed to do; he was told someone would meet him at the terminal, but was not told who they were or what they looked like.

He would sit and pull the guitar into his lap. He would take a moment to tune his guitar before strumming down the strings. Once the guitar was tuned, he began to improvise a very mellow tune. It had been a long trip here from Boston, Massachusetts back in the U.S. and he was feeling rather drained even though he was just sitting the whole ride. There he sits, awaiting for someone, though he knows not who, to find him. Contently, he plays his guitar while he waits.

He finds a rhythm somewhere in all of the chaos around him. The noise is filtered and a beat is found. He plucks the strings to this hidden beat that only he can hear, his fingers gliding along the strings on the neck. A somewhat blues like tune, low toned yet fast paced, a sort of sound one might expect to hear in a lounge or something. He closes his eyes and continues to play this hidden song of his, completely in his own little world.

These last few days had been hard for Tiberius. Here he was now, in a place he was not familiar with and knew absolutely nothing about. Invited out of the blue by a man who simply showed up at the door. Practically shoved out the door by his foster parents, and now sitting all alone in the middle of a bus terminal with everything he belonged in two bags. The moving he was used to, but he always knew where he was going. He was always able to know ahead of time what was in store for him. Not this time. This was new, this was unknown. And he had now idea what to prepare for. So he sits, with the one thing that is familiar to him; his music.

[ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY]

Arianna still didn’t know how she got roped into this. She wasn’t a leader, or even friendly for that matter. And yet someone at the school decided that she would be the one to pick some kid up from the bus terminal. She didn’t even show any interest in liking people or taking initiative, so why did they think she would be such a good choice. Maybe it was because the kid was a thunder and from the States they thought the two would have something in common. Massachusetts and Maryland were pretty close, both in New England, although sending someone based off of that alone was dumb.

She was running late, she was always late, and she felt a little bad for making the kid wait. She had lost track of time, forgetting almost completely about him. It wasn’t until she was thinking that she was missing something that she remembered she should have been waiting at the terminal. Sometimes she wished she would keep a planner, thinking about it though she knew she would still probably forget things. She had to shuffle threw the papers on her desk until she found the right one which took an extra five minutes. Now that she thought about it she really did need to clean her room so she could actually find things.

After finding the paper with the boy’s name on it she hurried down to catch a bus to Maple Hollow. But of course she had missed one by barely five seconds and had to wait for the next one. It really wasn’t her day today and it was becoming more and more frustrating. She finally made it, only fifteen minutes late, and she was quite proud of herself. Maybe the kid on the bus had been late and he had just gotten there was well. Who am I trying to kid. She thought. His bus had probably gotten there early if it hadn’t been on time.

She gazed around the terminal looking for a ninth grade boy. She wished it was her brother she was picking up, and not some random kid, but that wouldn’t happen, maybe if she was lucky in a few years he would finally be able to come. After a few moments she spotted a kid playing a guitar and figured it was the boy she was looking for. As she walked over she heard them music a little better. For a kid he was pretty good, well anyone was good compared to her. She didn’t have a musical bone in her body. She pulled the paper out of her pocket and unfurled it squinting at the horrible writing. Really you would think teachers would have better writing considering how people were supposed to be able to read it. ”Tiberius?”[/color] She asked making sure she wasn’t about to bring some random person back to the academy. ”I’m Arianna. I’m in twelfth grade at the Academy.”[/color] She explained trying to be nice. She knew it was hard coming in not knowing anyone. It could be overwhelming, and this kid didn’t deserve an attitude. It wasn’t his fault she was volunteered to come pick him up.[/size]

[xenokofhang]

Tiberius sat there playing his guitar, the ticking of the clock going on and on. He was used to waiting, he'd done a lot of it in his time. A couple of people passing by tossed some coins and bills towards him, which he would pocket. He used to do this in the Metro and commuter stations during summer break whenever he could get away to do so. He would use the money to buy things for himself, which he would hide from the other foster children and his foster parents so this was nothing new to him. Hmmm... maybe I could do this in my free time and get some extra money. So long as Security doesn't get sick of me... wonder if this school forbids it or something... He would think to himself as he played.

The sound of feet approaching him gave Tiberius pause for a moment, opening his eyes to see a rather attractive girl coming his way. She was clearly a few years older than he, and he gave a small smile after hearing his name. He gave one last strum of his guitar and let it ring for a second before giving a small nod. "That'd be me." He would put the guitar to the side and stand up, dusting himself off before offering a hand to her. "Nice to meet you, Arianna." She would see that his clothes were incredibly worn and seemed rather old. The faded remnant of what looked like a U.S. Marine Corps symbol adorned his grey t-shirt. The brown jacket seemed in just as much of a worn condition, and his jeans in not much better. His shoes, basic black sneakers, are the most intact piece of clothing he seems to have and even then not by much.

Picking up his guitar and slinging it on his back, he grabs his duffle bag and small suitcase. "Ready when you are. I doubt this was how you wanted to spend your afternoon." He would give a small half smile. "Besides, I'm eager to see the place I'll call home this time." Truly everything he owned was in those two bags. A couple pairs of jeans, T-shirts, and undergarments and nothing more.

As soon as she started walking, he would follow her lead. "So, what can you tell me about this place? The guy in the suit was more than a little vague on the specifics." He would ask her as they walked. He didn't want to be a pest and annoy her with every question he had, but he was understandably curious and clearly was not told much prior to his coming here.

[ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY]

Arianna’s first impression of the kid was that he was adorable. He seemed polite too, something she had not expected. Honestly she had thought that most freshmen were annoying brats but he had a different vibe to him. Then again she didn’t make an effort to befriend people in general, let alone freshmen. If they were nice she wouldn’t know. The fact that he offered his hand out surprised her a little but she let her hand slip into his and gave it a brief shake. She couldn’t remember the last time she had shook someone’s hand under the age of thirty, but the kid had manners.

She couldn’t help but smile when he his comment about not wanting to spend her afternoon there was spot on. “It’s okay kid.”[/color] She said shrugging a little. Arianna wondered what he had meant by his home this time, but decided not to push it. His clothes looked a little worn and she wondered if they were supposed to be that way or if there was more to his story. She didn’t want to offend the poor little guy though, he was only a freshman and she really didn’t need any more enemies to deal with.

“We gotta get on that bus.”[/color] She said, motioning towards it with her head, as she began walking towards it. It would be there a few more minutes but she didn’t want to miss it. She thought about his question, wondering how much he knew. She had only been a freshman four years ago, but it seemed like a lifetime. Her whole life was at the Academy now and she would probably spend another four years at the college here. What should he know, and how should she explain it. She inwardly groaned wondering yet again why she had been chosen for this job. Someone else was probably much better at these kinds of things.

As they were walking to their seats on the bus Arianna finally figured she might as well start with what he could expect class and campus wise, and then explain the alliance thing if he didn’t know what it was. “Okay so campus is pretty nice. There are the normal things, dorms, classrooms and the like, but the outside is pretty cool too. There is a lake and some cliffs and gardens and it makes the Academy feel less like school and homier I guess you could say. Did the guy explain anything to you about the elements and alliances?” [/color]She hoped that was a good enough explanation for Tiberius. If not he would just have to deal with it until he could figure it all out for himself. [/size]

[xenokofhang]

Tiberius followed her, carrying what few things he had. Listening to every word she said. He wanted to know as much about this place from the start. He did not want to get caught off guard. She seemed nice enough though, but he knew off the bat she would have rather been elsewhere. He decided to keep most of his questions for the staff members at the academy about the school itself.

He gave her a nod when she asked about the alliances. "I've been told that I should steer clear of water and earth students. That they are hostile to us 'thunders'. And that a 'war' could break out if anything were to happen between them. And that I should not get too friendly with wind either since they are more or less neutral, but I don't need to avoid them." He repeated more or less what he was told by the man in the suit before he got on the bus back in Boston. "But that's about it." He thought it was strange, and had figured that the man in the suit had been joking about a 'war' and 'avoiding students'; Tiberius was under the impression schools were supposed to be a 'safe' place to learn, so he could not really imagine school wide fights or wars. The very concept seemed rather alien to him.

He would chuckle a bit, figuring it must have been a joke. "But, I'm sure he was just messing with me. Can't imagine a school allowing students to try to attack one another like that." He made his belief quite clear, his disbelief of the whole prospect.

[ARIANNA DEVIN SETLEY]

Arianna smirked when he seemed a little reluctant to the whole alliance thing. Honestly it did seem a little strange to a new kid, but once there usually people understood a little better. To her it wasn’t so much about the strict alliance part. She just didn’t really get along with the happy go lucky people that seemed to thrive within the earth and water elemental group. That and she was fiercely loyal to those that were like her. She knew that the alliances seemed a little less strict once in college, although she wasn’t really sure why. How she was supposed to explain this all to the kid?

She sighed and ran her hand through her hair trying to collect her thoughts as she sat down in a seat near the back of the bus. “Well you heard right. I don’t really know how to explain this…”[/color] She began before turning slightly to look at the younger boy. “Alright well as thunder we don’t tend to mesh well with elements like earth and water. I don’t really know exactly how this escalated into a big conflict but it did.”[/color] She probably was messing this up. Poor kid would most likely end up more confused than he started out. She couldn’t remember who explained it all to her; it honestly had been too long ago.

“But don’t think that we just go around attacking each other. I’m pretty sure there is some kind of ‘peace’ going on right now. But even when there isn’t I’m pretty sure you don’t have to fight. I never have.”[/color] She said failing to mention that the reason she never fought was because she was too clumsy to be of any help. She didn’t like when random people knew about her weaknesses and it didn’t matter that he was only a kid.[/size]